Letter of the Week – “The second-best place to have a stack of Better Records is on your friend’s shelf.”

Phenomenally Good Sounding White Hot Stamper Pressings Available Now

Dear Tom,

Yesterday I got to have an experience I’ll bet very few people – apart from you and your staff, of course – have ever had: a White Hot Stamper shootout!

My buddies David and Bill have amassed themselves quite a collection of Better Records, and among us, we now have multiple WHSs of the same titles. What an incredible bounty. Also, we’ve all copied your stereo, with Robert’s guidance and fine-tuning, to the best of our abilities. This allows us to do some dead-serious listening and comparing.

What did I learn? First, you are rock-solid reliable. A White Hot Stamper is a White Hot Stamper. They are all simply incredible sounding records.

Which leads me to rule #2: No two records sound the same. Yes, that even goes for white hot stampers. One copy will have better placement of the musicians; the other copy will have a richer tone. All white hot stampers sound fantastic, and also, they all sound subtly different. It’s just an amazing thing to hear for yourself.

Third, the stamper is only a part of the puzzle. The pressing is only a part of the puzzle. A few of the WHSs we own among us have the same stamper, but most of them did not. Sometimes, there was a family resemblance, like a country of origin. Also, we noticed that the majority of the WHSs we played were NOT original pressings.

It confirmed something we all learned at great expense: Chasing pressings and stampers recommended on the forums, or going based on rarity/price, is simply not a reliable guide to good sound. It lets you tell yourself you have a sought-after record, but it doesn’t allow you to conclude you have a great-sounding copy of that title. The guy on the forum might be right that his copy of that stamper sounds amazing, but that’s little guarantee the one you buy also will.

So, what’s my advice? If you’ve got a collection of hot stampers, do what I did, and invite over some buddies to listen. The second-best place to have a stack of Better Records is on your friend’s shelf.

Aaron

Aaron,

Naturally this all comes as music (ahem) to my ears.

Many years ago we noted that there are two ideas that we have found to be at the heart of building a high quality record collection.

One is to appreciate at the deepest level that no two records sound the same, which is something that every audiophile must come to learn through their own experience. You yourself have proven it once again by playing multiple White Hot Stamper pressings and noting the differences among them. It’s clear to you now, if it were ever in doubt, that even the best of the best copies of a given album do not sound exactly the same.

Instead, as you discovered, they all have strengths and weaknesses.

The strengths of any given copy must be in the most important areas of reproduction, such that the music does not suffer in any way. (Pressings of recordings that must have plenty of bass to sound their best cannot win shootouts without plenty of bass, etc.)

The weaknesses can be in areas that are not as critical to the music. (Soundstaging for some, three-dimensionality for others, etc.)

In other words, a record can win a shootout and earn our highest grade of 3 pluses with sound that is less than perfect.

Less than perfect is the nature of things. That cannot be the standard for judging a record — or anything else for that matter — in the real world.

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These Beethoven Quartets (LSC 2632) Are Just Okay Sounding

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Beethoven Available Now

The copies we played were a bit boxy and dry.

It’s a  passable record, not much more than that, and not really not worth doing a shootout for.

It’s best played on an old school stereo that can hide its shortcomings.

The much more revealing systems of today, like the one we employed to audition this very copy, simply make it too easy to spot its many faults.

Vintage Vinyl

We are not fans of vintage vinyl because we like the sound of old records. Lots of old records don’t sound good to us at all, and we review them by the score all over this blog.

We like old records because they have the potential to sound better than every other kind of record, especially the ones that have been made and marketed to audiophiles for the last thirty years.

We wrote about that subject in a commentary we called the big if. An excerpt:

The best of the best vintage recordings are truly amazing if you can play them right. That’s a big if. 

In fact, it may just be the biggest if in all of audio.

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Pretzel Logic – Our Four Plus Shootout Winner from 2011

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Steely Dan Available Now

This BEYOND White Hot side one (A++++) of Pretzel Logic has nothing less than master tape sound. [Whatever that is!] Our Four Plus ranking is rare enough, but in this case it has the added benefit of conferring upon this very pressing the status of the best sounding Steely Dan recording we have ever heard.

There is no better recording in the Steely Dan catalog, and I don’t think there’s a copy anywhere that’s any better than this on side one. (To see what we consider to be the single best sounding album from two hundred(!) other artists, please click here.)

UPDATE 2026

  • Note that only one side on this pressing was actually any good. Side two earned a sub-Hot Stamper grade of 1+. We no longer sell records with grades that low.
  • In 2011 we still had a lot to learn about Pretzel Logic, but this copy sure had us fired up at the time, and that’s a good thing, right?
  • Our lengthy commentary entitled outliers and out-of-this-world sound talks about how rare these kinds of pressings are and how we go about finding them.
  • We no longer give Four Pluses out as a matter of policy, but that doesn’t mean we don’t come across records that deserve them from time to time.
  • Nowadays we most often place them under the general heading of breakthrough pressings. These are records that, out of the blue, revealed to us sound of such high quality that it changes our undertanding of the recording itself.
  • We found ourselves asking “Who knew?” Perhaps a better question might have been “How high is up?”

This Beyond White Hot Pretzel Logic has got it all: tons of energy, mindblowing transparency, uncanny presence, and lots of deep bass. We feel Pretzel Logic is the band’s best sounding recording, and here’s a copy that will show you why.

There’s lots of room around the drums, texture to the bass, breath to the vocals, and weight to the bottom end. The clarity is unbelievable and the overall sound is HUGE! The piano sounds AMAZING and the top end is silky sweet. It’s more open and more alive than you could ever imagine.

We’ve been playing this record since it came out in 1973 and this is the first “Four Plus” A++++ grade we have ever awarded it. The sound is Demo Disc quality of the highest order.

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Mona Bone Jakon – Live and Learn

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Cat Stevens Available Now

Scroll down to check out our two updates, one from 2024 and one from 2025.

Live and learn? It never ends!

When we said Mona Bone Jakon was not the sonic equal of Teaser and the Firecat or Tea for the Tillerman, boy, we was wrong and then some. Read all about it in this White Hot Stamper copy review from many years ago.

It’s been about a year since we last found Hot Stampers of this album, and having made a number of improvements to the stereo over that time, I’m here to report that this album got a WHOLE LOT BETTER, better than I ever imagined it could get. Mona Bone Jakon now ranks as a DEMO DISC of the highest order, every bit the equal of Teaser and Tea.

To think that all three of these records came out in one fifteen-month period is astonishing. The only other artists to have produced music of this caliber in so short a time would have to be The Beatles, and it took four of them to do it.

Which is not what we used to think, as evidenced by this paragraph from a previous Hot Stamper listing.

This album is one of Cat’s top four titles both musically and sonically. Tea and Teaser are obviously in a league of their own, but this album and Catch Bull At Four are close behind. The music is WONDERFUL — the best tracks (including I Wish I Wish and I Think I See The Light) rank right up there with anything from his catalog. Sonically it’s not an epic recording on the scale of Tea or Teaser, but with Paul Samwell-Smith at the helm, you can be sure it’s an excellent sounding album — on the right pressing.

That last line is dead wrong. It IS an epic recording on the scale of Tea and Teaser. This copy proves it! Now that we know just how good this record can sound, I hope you will allow me to borrow some commentary from another classic Cat Stevens album listing, to wit:

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Supertramp – Breakfast In America

More of the Music of Supertramp

  • Both sides of this vintage copy have stunning sound for the band’s Must Own 1979 release, earning Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them
  • An excellent recording with huge, powerful, dynamic sound – the Tubey Magical richness of these sides will have your jaw on the floor
  • Turn it up good and loud and you will be amazed at how dynamic some of the guitar solos are.
  • As is sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs, there are some bad marks that play (most notably on “Take the Long Way Home” and “Casual Conversations”) but once you hear just how incredible sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting ticks and just be swept away by the music
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The majority of the album consisted of tightly written, catchy, well-constructed pop songs, like the hits ‘The Logical Song,’ ‘Take the Long Way Home,’ and ‘Goodbye Stranger.'”

We’re always amazed by just how good the better copies of this album can sound — huge, spacious, punchy sound we can never get enough of around here. If you have big speakers, a great copy will blow your mind…and it will probably blow your mind even if you don’t!

We are not the least bit ashamed to say that we love this album here at Better Records, and a copy like this will certainly help to show you why. Drop the needle on “Gone Hollywood,” “The Logical Song” or “Take The Long Way Home” to hear how powerful this music can sound when you have a great pressing.

Most copies of this record are grainy, thin, shrill and aggressive. When you get a Hot Stamper like this one, the highs are sweet and silky. This recording has plenty of top end, so if the highs aren’t correct it pretty much ruins the sound of the record.

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Dire Straits / Alchemy: Dire Straits Live

More of the Music of Dire Straits

  • An Alchemy like you’ve never heard, with solid Double Plus (A++) sound on all FOUR sides – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • The overall sonics here are big, rich and musical with great space and energy – just right for a live album
  • Stick with the imports on this title, even though the domestic pressings were originally mastered by Robert Ludwig – he didn’t have the real tapes, and that makes all the difference in the world
  • “The arena-size crowd cheers wildly, and claps and sings along when given half a chance, as though each song were an up-tempo rocker… That Dire Straits’ introspective music loses much of its detail in a live setting matters less than that it gains presence and a sense of anticipation.”

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Aerosmith – Toys in the Attic

More of the Music of Aerosmith

  • An excellent copy of Aerosmith’s 1975 down-and-dirty blues-rock hit release with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it from start to finish
  • Our favorite Aerosmith album in every way, and a true Must Own for fans of the band
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more Tubey Magic, size and rock and roll energy on this vintage copy than others you’ve heard (particularly on side one), and that’s especially true of whatever dead-as-a-doornail Heavy Vinyl disaster is out there now
  • This is one of only a handful of copies we’ve been able to offer in over a year, but once you drop the needle on “Walk This Way” you’ll hear it was worth the wait – it rocks like it’s never rocked before
  • 5 stars: “Aerosmith finally perfected their mix of Stonesy raunch and Zeppelin-esque riffing with their third album. The success of the album derives from a combination of an increased sense of songwriting skills and purpose.”

If you’re looking for great sound for this fun album, you’ve come to the right place. This is raw, down-and-dirty blues-rock in the tradition of the Stones and the Faces, and when it sounds this good it sure is a blast to listen to.

I never really cared much for this band until many years ag when I heard “Sweet Emotion” on my local classic rock station (The Octopus) and realized that it would probably sound pretty amazing on a Hot Stamper vinyl version. Boy, was I right! It took quite a few copies and a whole lot of work, but the best sounding tracks on this album sound amazing. “Sweet Emotion” and “Walk This Way” are going to rock like they have never rocked before.

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Oscar Peterson + Clark Terry – Oscar Peterson Trio + One

More of the Music of Oscar Peterson

  • Amazing sound throughout this vintage pressing, with both sides earning INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Rich, solid bass; you-are-there immediacy; energy and drive; instruments that are positively jumping out of the speakers – add it all up and you can see that this copy had the sound we were looking for
  • 5 stars: “Some guest soloists get overshadowed by Oscar Peterson’s technical prowess, while others meet him halfway with fireworks of their own; trumpeter Clark Terry lands in the latter camp on this fine 1964 session. With drummer Ed Thigpen and bassist Ray Brown providing solid support, the two soloists come off as intimate friends over the course of the album’s ten ballad and blues numbers.”

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Letter of the Week – “Oh my god can I hear what I am missing on all of the other nonsense.”

More Hot Stamper Pressings of Albums with Stevie Nicks Performing

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently: 

Hey Tom,   

Well one thing I know for sure is the record matters A LOT. I have a handful of White Hots and oh my god can I hear what I am missing on all of the other nonsense. Even my Super Hots beat all of my other average stuff.

For example, my White Hot of Bella Donna is so far over the top of sounding like she is heard in the room that it’s scary. Same with my Bob Marley and Tom Petty. But I’m guessing they could be even better. I’m gonna update my cartridge and phono amp soon.

I noted:

The problem with audio systems is that you are always flying blind, never knowing what you are missing until you hear it.

Again, more evidence to support the popularity of mediocre Heavy Vinyl.

TP

He added:

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Carly Simon – No Secrets

More of the Music of Carly Simon

  • An early Elektra pressing of Carly Simon’s classic 1972 album with seriously good sound from start to finish
  • Warm, sweet, rich, present and full-bodied, with much less strain on the vocals than a lot of the other copies we played
  • “You’re So Vain” was the big hit off of this one, a classic Richard Perry production with huge size and space
  • Five weeks at Number One and 4 1/2 stars on Allmusic, “. . . it wasn’t only Simon’s forthrightness that made the album work; it was also Richard Perry’s simple, elegant pop/rock production, which gave Simon’s music a buoyancy it previously lacked. “
  • If you’re a Carly Simon fan, this title from 1972 is probably her best album, and for non-fans, a good place to start

No Secrets is a bit of a tough nut to crack. Due to the mixture of folky pop songs, big production numbers and potential AM radio hit singles, it has to be cut just right to get every track to sound the way the artists (Carly Simon and studio cats), producer (Richard Perry) and engineers (Robin Geoffrey Cable and Bill Schnee) intended.

Balance is key to getting all the tracks to sound their best. Many copies we played were too dull or too bright, but the tonality here is Right On The Money. The clarity and detail are superb; just listen to Embrace Me, You Child on side two — you can really hear the rosiny texture of the strings as they are bowed.

The best copies such as this one are always transparent, natural and musical. The top end is wonderfully extended, balancing a BIG bottom end with lots of deep, well-defined bass. The drums are punchy and dynamic and the cymbals can sound amazing — just listen to how extended the crashes are on You’re So Vain on side one.

One more note: having your VTA set just right is critical to getting the best out of this album. The loudest vocal parts can easily strain otherwise. Once you get your settings dialed in correctly, a copy like this will have the kind of rich, sweet sound that is obviously the right one for this music.

We’re big fans of Another Passenger, the album she cut in 1976 with Ted Templeman producing. If you like Carly, you should definitely check that one out. (more…)